Thanks Geoff It's 20 years since I actually drank there so Iwas expecting it to have a far trendier name by now . and I never knew how it got its name. thanks for that. My husband proposed to me in the Crown Posada where I have also never been for years so I think a shandy crawl to our old haunts may be coming up at Christmas.....Bet the Newcastle Arms under the Bridge which does have a new name doesn't do plate mince pies any more. Debra -------------------------------------------------- From: <NEGenealogy@aol.com> Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 9:52 AM To: <northumbria@rootsweb.com> Subject: Re: [NMB] FAWCUS, BONE & ARKLE > > In a message dated 12/12/2009 05:49:39 GMT Standard Time, > microgott@hotmail.com writes: > > The ceiling in the Monkey bar is also > worth a look although I can't remember what the real name of the Monkey > Bar > is these days. > > > > > Debs: > > It may have changed in the last few months but until quite > recently it was what it always seems to have been - The Market Tavern. > You may > know the story of how it came to be called the Monkey Bar but perhaps > some > others subscribers do not and would be interested. I have been told that > it > goes back to the days when the Grainger/Dobson buildings in Grey Street, > Market Street etc were being built (1840s). There were lots of builders' > labourers working around there, and many of them were hod carriers, who > would > carry their precious hods with them when they went for a lunch-time > drink. > They favoured the Market Tavern but the landlord insisted they leave > their > hods outside, or in the lobby, while they were inside. Their slang term > for their hods was their "monkey", hence the name of the Monkey Bar, > where > there were always lots of them around the doorway. This may or may not > be > true, but it has a ring of authenticity about it and I like to think that > it is. > > Congratulations on the rest of your posting which will have done a lot > to reverse the unfortunate impression given by the previous one, which > was > derogatory to Pilgrim Street. Until the early 1970s it was part of the > route of the A1 through Newcastle and although it has come down in the > world > somewhat since then, it is poised to rise again in a few years time, if > the > Corporation's plans are ever put into practice. Not only Alderman > Fenwick, but other influential Newcastle Merchants once lived in Pilgrim > Street, > and the Royal Arcade, which was obliterated to make way for the Pilgrim > Street Roundabout in the late 1960s, was a glorious building. The block > just a > little above the roundabout was built about then, as the new Newcastle > branch of the Bank of England, replacing the one hitherto in Grey Street. > Pilgrim Street was "Main Street, Newcastle" from mediaeval times (when it > was > really created to be the first "Newcastle by-pass" to within the last 40 > years. > > Geoff Nicholson > > > > The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at > http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NORTHUMBRIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

>> The ceiling in the Monkey bar is also >> worth a look although I can't remember what the real name of the Monkey >> Bar >> is these days. Debs: Did nobody drink in the "Golden Tiger" near the bottom of Pilgrim Street. That was a bar:-))) John No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.715 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2560 - Release Date: 12/12/09 07:38:00